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2w ago

Mattel Launches Team Barbie With Women’s Rugby Icons, Sets Ilona Maher Doll for 2026

The campaign showcases athletic builds to encourage girls to stay in sport, with funding pledged to programs in the athletes’ home countries.

“If sharing my story can inspire other young girls to believe in themselves the way I have, then I’ll have truly made an impact,” Maher said.
One-Of-A-Kind Barbie dolls made in the likeness of Ellie Kildunne, 2024 World Rugby Player of the Year and key member of England Rugby’s Red Roses team, Ilona Maher, rugby player who won a bronze medal with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Nassira Konde, French rugby union and sevens player who won a silver medal with the French sevens team at the Tokyo Olympics, and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, New Zealand rugby union player who is a two-time Olympic and World Champion, stand in London, September 2025. Mattel/Handout via REUTERS
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Overview

  • Mattel introduced Team Barbie on Oct. 6, creating one-of-a-kind dolls of Ilona Maher, England’s Ellie Kildunne, New Zealand’s Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and France’s Nassira Konde.
  • Maher’s is the only doll slated for retail, arriving in 2026 with a new muscular sculpt featuring a straighter torso, defined arms and shoulders, and sculpted core and legs.
  • The initiative ties to International Day of the Girl and aims to promote girls’ confidence and participation in sport, citing research that many disengage by age 14.
  • Mattel said it will donate to girls’ sports organizations in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and France, with a reported £20,000 contribution to England’s RFU.
  • Early response hails the visibility but some fans say the dolls understate the athletes’ muscularity and call for broader representation, including Canadian players.